One man wages war on movie snack prices

A man in suburban Detroit has had enough of the high prices at the movie theater concession stands. Joshua Thompson’s filed a class-action lawsuit, the Detroit Free-Press is reporting:

He filed a class action in Wayne County Circuit Court against his local AMC theater in hopes of forcing theaters statewide to dial down snack prices.

“He got tired of being taken advantage of,” said Thompson’s lawyer, Kerry Morgan of Wyandotte. “It’s hard to justify prices that are three- and four-times higher than anywhere else.”

American Multi Cinema, which operates the AMC theater in Livonia, wouldn’t comment on the suit. A staffer at the National Association of Theatre Owners in Washington, D.C., angrily hung up the phone when asked about industry snack pricing practices.

The suit accuses AMC of violating the Michigan Consumer Protection Act by charging grossly excessive prices for snacks. It seeks refunds for customers who were overcharged and a civil penalty against the theater chain.

The suit says that on Dec. 26, he paid $8 for a Coke and a package of Goobers at the Livonia theater. (Personally I think he’s getting off cheap at $8 for a movie theater.)

What would a Coke and a package of Goobers cost in the real world, outside the movie theater? I know, at least in Houston, you can get a 2-liter bottle of Coca-Cola for under $2. (Online, too.) That’s more than you’d probably drink in a theater, but for the sake of argument, let’s use that.

Goobers, let’s see: At amazon.com you can get the “movie size” 3.5-oz. box of 18 for $22.34, which breaks down to about $1.25 per box. That seems too cheap, so let’s double it to $2.50.

You’re still only at $4.50 and that’s being generous.

And movie theaters have to make a profit, so throw in another dollar. Let’s say $5.50. Would that be fair?

What do you think. What do you pay for snacks at the concession stand?